Terima Kashi Indonesia !

                                                          TERIMA KASHI INDONESIA
                                                              BY  :  TSURTIDOGNI
                                                                          022509

This article is to express my heartfelt gratitude to our gracious hosts in our two-weeks stay in Indonesia. To Princess Ivo, her family and her friends who made our stay a memorable one.

The Arrival
Soekarno Hatta International Airport
Jakarta, Indonesia
February 12, 2009
12:05 A.M.


"Wake up Mama ! "  "Wake up Honey ! " The voices of my daughter and my husband waking me up as I was
sleeping in the entire four hours flight from Manila International Airport to Soekarno Hatta International Airport.


Overwhelmed with excitement in our first visit in this country we walked as fast as we could out of the plane
to the grounds of Indonesia. Early morning Indonesian air was filled with an enchanting smell. For me I thought it was an aroma of thousand spices blended into one.


"I can smell cinnamon ! " I said. " I can smell clove, or garlic, or basil." My daughter responded. "I can smell delicious and so inviting food ! " My husband announced.


Laughters from the three of us filled the flat floor escalator as we were rushing up to claim our baggage.


"We need to see the immigration counter first ! " my daughter said. We followed her. Our daughter walked straight to the counter where a young good looking immigration officer sits and he greeted her with a very good
English. Our daughter told him that we are her parents and the young officer gestured for us to move to his direction. He stamped our passports and we said our "Thank You " and he replied with a wide smile "Enjoy
your stay ! "


Oh ! What a pleasant beginning of a new day in a foreign country.

After claiming our baggages we turned to the left side for the arrival area. We saw the smiling faces of two young
good looking Indonesians Prince Ari and Prince Reiza. They were waving their hands and wearing very heavy sweaters in a very cold morning. Prince Ari and Prince Reiza are the two of the three sons of our host in our
our stay in Indonesia, the sons of our dearest Princess Ivo.

Hugs and kisses were shared, a little conversation of WELCOME, after placing our things in the car's compartment we brought our tired bodies but excited spirits to the seats of a very comfortable black Innova car personally driven by Prince Ari.
Prince Ari has a very sweet and charismatic smile while Prince Reiza has the most expressive eyes. Prince Ari has a small built while Prince Reiza has a body of a judo master. Interesting sons of a princess. It was about an hour ride in a superhighway and in my very own personal opinion Prince Ari was driving the car faster than the airplane's pilot. WHEW !

The eldest son, Prince Krisandi welcomes us with a big smile and with a firm handshake like a diplomat officer. He is the oldest of the three. Next is Prince Ari and Prince Reiza is the youngest. Prince Krisandi works as one
of the very top positions in the Indonesian government. The way he moves expresses his personality as a dignified
and honorable man and a young husband to Princess Yoyon and a young and very responsible father to a n born son Rafi, the little Prince, rather the baby Prince.


A servant came with a welcome drink in pretty glasses in a tray. A mixture of tropical fruits but I can not tell what fruits or it was added with a special spice.
My eyes blinked  as I drank it to the last drop. Uniquely delicious !

The three sons brought us to our respective rooms. The guest rooms were beside each other. One for our daughter and one for me and my husband.
"WHAT A BEAUTIFUL ROOM ! " Much more beautiful than the five star hotel room that  I used to work at the front office way back then. Before the three sons went back to their respective rooms, Prince Sandi announced, " Sleep well. See you at breakfast."

My husband and my daughter who usually wakes up late in the morning as in taking their breakfast and lunch at the same time, calling it  brunch, looked at each other and without hesitation asked at the same time,
"What time is breakfast?"
Prince Sandi politely replied, "Anytime you wake up. Food is prepared as early as five in the morning. There is coffee, tea, fruit juice and authentic Indonesian
cuisine. Sunita, the lady who brought you the welcome drinks was already
assigned to cook for you in your entire stay. Of course, there will be dinner and lunches outside. Expect some invitations from the family and from our friends.
If you need anything from A to Z, Sunita will be glad to serve you. The three of them bowed and left after we said our "THANK YOU "

In my thoughts, "Oh, my sweet Lord, how great is your blessings for us. Thank you from the innermost part of my
soul." It was indeed a pleasant and wonderful surprise to enjoy such blessings from above.


The observant me noticed the following:
A very big three story house. Each floor has four bedrooms, a dining area, a kitchen equipped with modern facilities and each floor has a servant's quarter, and an entertainment area where the biggest flat-screened television set was placed for movie and television viewing. Centralized airconditioned rooms. Hot and cold showers with a bath tub, eight-seaters dining tables. Each room that we stayed are so huge even bigger than our very own house or cottage back home.
So huge, fit for a prince and a princess to live. Each room has its own refrigerator
and flat screened television set. Oh......One important thing I missed, the internet. We were told later that it is only Prince Reiza and Prince Ari who owns
a computer and an internet in their respective rooms. Prince Sandi has other interests or priorities, he intentionally decided not to have an internet connection in his room.
The furnitures ? WOW ! Amazingly huge and were carved in its own personalized design with so much elegance and style. Later I was told that all
the furnitures were imported from Italy. Really ! I can imagine the high costs.
A king-size bed with dressers and cabinets looking at them amazingly as if our
"WOW" and "MORE WOW" never ends.

Our daughter told us,"Is is okay if I stay with you in your room tonight. Promise
I will be in my room tomorrow, I just find it too big for me. " We agreed with our
"Of Course ! , Of Course ! " Then I said, " I think I am only dreaming. I still can not believe here I am in this kingsize bed with furnitures  so nicely done
with an extremely exquisite taste."
My husband, funny as he always be smiled an replied: "Come on smile ! " he was taking pictures of my daughter and me. Then rapidly he ordered:
"Honey, please stand. Pose in front of the cabinet, sit in front of the dresser, glide a little near the lamp." Our daughter was laughing and got her camera too.
The truth is I never owned and operated a camera in my whole life, so the two of them were taking turns in taking pictures of me in a very beautiful room.
Our daughter commented " Mama, the model and the always favorite object for
Daddy's camera, Mama, smile for me" she was taking pictures of me too.
Happiness filled the billionaire's room as we said our goodnight rather our good morning and slept until ten in the morning.

THE FIRST BREAKFAST EXPERIENCE

We were told that the three sons of Princess Ivo were already out for their morning activities and will be back in the evening, except for Prince Ari who will be seeing us at noon time to bring the three of us at the airport as we will meet
Princess Ivo from her travel from Holland.

Sunita was in her wide smile as she told us that the table was ready in her signed language as she speaks only a very little English. I brought along my
dictionary so I can communicate a little as in broken Indonesian/English language. Hahhahhahhhahhahaha ......To  Sunita's laughters.
My husband and my daughter were taking turns in taking pictures of the food
displayed or set on top of the table.. So nicely presented, looks so exotic and
looks so hot and spicy. Rice was cooked in so many ways.Nasi-Puti is the plain cooked rice, Nasi-Odog, rice steamed in coconut milk and there were some spices on top they called Krapek or kropeck. Nasi-Goreng(fried rice) that my daughter loved so much. The aroma is very inviting.
Fried Fish was served, a cat fish marinated in sambal (Hot and Spicy) sauce and then fried. They called the fried, GORENG. Goreng Ayam(fried chicken),
Chop Tsai (Chop Suey), Taho Goreng(Fried Tofu) with mango sprouts and many more dishes whose names I love to remember like the Telor(eggs) and Udang Goreng (Fried Shrimp with eggs). Each dish has a side small bowl of fresh green
or red pepper, some were diced and some were being served as a whole and there were so many hot sauces. My taste buds truly complained of the VERY
HOT EFFECT as if my tounge explodes. WHEW ! But without the very hot sauce the food was really uniquely very tasty. I just lessened the hot sauce and never ate the raw pepper.

After our late breakfast which we all considered we over-ate, we thanked Sunita and was later told that Prince Ari will see us at two in the afternoon not at twelve noon time as scheduled. We went back to our rooms, took a quick shower and
I did some writings while my husband and my daughter watched a noon-time show in Indonesian as if they both understood the language. Our laughters continued....as in ecstatic laughers.


It was two in the afternoon and we were inside the car with Prince Ari at the drivers seat bringing us all to the airport. Princess Ari, the musician and who graduated Broadcasting was one of the young Indonesians who loves music as
in the new generation music. He loves to wear faded jeans and a simple T shirt,
we noticed he wore the native necklace and the friendship bonds bracelets that our daughter gave him, to our delight when he said " I love them, Thank you very much !" The modern day prince in his most handsome smile. So rich yet so humble and so very polite, so low profile inspite of his being so important young
and well-educated man, as in excellent breeding.


On our way to the airport I had my observations of the place as so full of big trees
and greens. The landscape is admirable, the cars are all new, I never saw an old
looking car and there's a mosque in every street, big and small. The road was well asphalted and smooth and there were hundreds of motorcycle riders
along the traffic, the houses mostly has brick roofs that looks so strong. There were tall and nicely designed buildings in the city proper and I was fascinated by its architecture. I noticed the Hotel Ibis which in my memory was also the name
of the hotel that our daughter stayed in Belgium the last time she traveled there.
My daughter and my husband who are a big fun of McDonald food was elated seeing the place as we passed by. The traffic jam is like Metro Manila and the
drivers? I considered were disciplined drivers. The streets were cleaned and there was  nice aroma in Jakarta air. I saw a banana plantation in the heart of the city. Vegetation is great in that place. One very important plant that
caught my attention which was being used in their landscaping was the sweet potato we call camote in our very own village. It gave me an idea that what a very
productive purpose and brightly done using camote as part of the landscape. We
can enjoy seeing the green leaves and the roots can be harvested and used as food. That was really Something !

Princess Ivo's flight arrival was delayed giving us time to explore the airport area.
A modern airport and the parking lot were filled with nice luxurious cars. My daughter noticed a very shiny black Italian car and she said, "The owner must be
very rich ! " There were plenty of shops that serves food and sells important stuff
at the airport. Then it was time for me and my daughter to look for a comfort room. It suprised us both. The toilets were very clean with soft tissues and running water to use. It was a squat type toilet. There was no toilet bowl that we need to sit like the modern toilets of Princess Ivo and way back home. We did squat and we were talking about it when we were powdering our noses.

It was already late in the afternoon when the plane of Princess Ivo landed. She
was a stand-out in the crowd. The modern day princess was wearing a magenta
colored pants suit with a very heavy sweater on top. Her hair was coloured or
highlighted and she was wearing a very high-heeled black boots. A nicely trimmed bob cut hair and the expensive jewelries that she was wearing complemented her pleasing personality. She was ecstatic seeing us, hugging and kissing each one of us. Then he looked at Prince Ari. hahhhahhahhahha...
The princess smirked "My goodness Ari, why are you dressed up like that ?
You looked so shabby and so poor ?" My daughter answered for Prince Ari,
"Oh, you need to accept that this is the trend of the new generation.I used to hear that remark from my mother myself, but I am me and she is my mother, just
like you are you and Prince Ari is Prince Ari, and our age makes the difference"
My daughter who always speaks her mind was tapped by Prince Ari in her shoulder as a gesture of saying Thank you for speaking for him while Princess Ivo could only hugged and kissed our daughter back.

We were all hungry and Prince Ari said  "Mama, can we bring our guests to Kentucky Fried Chicken ?" Princess Ivo was hesitant then she asked us,
"Will you agree with Prince Ari again ?" We all replied "Yes, of course ! "
Princess Ivo laughed and she commented,"You win, but next time, I decide where to invite you for a fine dining" We could only laughed in return.

On the way to the restaurant, Princess Ivo said, "We will all be sleeping to
another house tonight !"
Our curious eyes met in our thoughts "What other house ?" Because we were
silent, she continued "Surely you will love it there, more than the rooms that you
are staying now ! " OH ! Another surprise in the making !  As in the best of the best has yet to come...

So right after we ate we went to another location about an hour drive and there we were ushered to a very big house only the rich and the famous can afford in
my country. So lovely in a very rich subdivision whose streets were named after
the key cities of the world. I was telling my husband and my daughter, "I am
completely in a new world, so unbelievable but true." They both laughed at my
comments and my daughter said with a smile "This is a blessing so we will enjoy
it while it lasts" The right word for the right situation.

There were twelve big rooms in the house and the dining table can accomodate 20 persons. It was a two-story white house. The furnitures were imported from Italy and the chandeliers were super lovely made of Swarobski crystals and were imported from Austria. The big porcelain jars were taller and bigger than my body size and were imported from China. For me it was so fascinating. The kitchen was superb and there two BMW parked at the garage wherein one can never tell it was a garage because it was so spacious and so lovely with lanscaped garden like a secret room.

There was also a dining area in the second floor, the interior decors were great.
It has it own kitchen too whose cupboards were filled with lovely and expensive
plates and gold spoon and forks and nice tall glasses and many more lovely things money can buy. The veranda was so lovely I can see the sprawling gardens of the big houses nearby. It was awesome. The youngest son of  Princess Ivo, Prince Reiza was bringing along four teen-agers all boys with him and he told us he loves to eat hamburgers. We offered to be the cooks of the night, my husband , my daughter and me.

We made about 25 pieces of Cheeseburgers to the delight of Prince Reiza and his friends and Princess Ivo. There were two cars who arrived late, the sister of Princess Ivo and Princess Ivo's friend. The burgers were much appreciated. We had COKE ZERO to complement with the sandwiches.
The evening was a success and we gained pure joy knowing that they loved what we were cooking. The cook of the house as well as the maids and the gardener was so glad as we gave them one burger each with a glass of
Coca-Cola and we were impressed by their big smiles eating the food and drinking the softdrink. It was a complete change from their authentic Indonesian
cuisine. We said our "goodnights" and we were sleeping soundly in another very
elegant and very huge room. Our daughter was invited by Princess Ivo to sleep with her in her room as they have some legal matters to be discussed as our daughter is a lawyer.

The itinerary for the following day is to visit Jakarta's Mini-Disneyland they called
Kawasan and the next day after that our daughter will go back to the Philippines
ahead of us because she has still a work to do.

It was a day worth to be remembered....

THE KAWASAN ADVENTURE
Jakarta's Mini Disneyland


Before our adventure I reached out to the maids, the cook and the driver trying to speak a few of the Bahasa language that I learned. Princess Ivo and her sons speak very good English so I can not practice what I learned to them, so I tried
telling the staff, "Selamat Pagi, meaning Good Morning" and when they said thank you to me in Indonesian"Terima Kashi" I replied with a smile "Sama-Sama,
meaning, "You are welcome" and I felt so good that I was being understood in every word that I pronounced.

I also observed that Indonesia is a Muslim country and they considered Friday as their holy day. I learned that when they pray at the mosque the men are being
separated from the women. They have this prayer being heared by the whole city through a man singing as a form of prayer in a very loud volume. The country is
very rich in culture and tradition like the women covering their heads with nice
scrarf or headbands and they were so lovely some with precious stones in them.
The Muslim wedding as I read in their magazines were so colorful and being done
with a meaningful ceremony and the wedding clothes for the bride are so extraordinary and looks so expensive.

The wonderful day was filled with excitement as we reached the mini Disneyland.
It was a very big place with games for the bravest of hearts like the Tornado and
the caterpillar and the more thrilling games that looking at them I could feel some
butterflies in my stomach.
The merry go round by a boat ride for about an hour was spectacular. Like I made a tour around the world inside a cave were moving dolls from different countries complete with costumes and what are the specific important aspects of each countries. We watched a concert by the monkeys whose choreography and music was so unique and so special in its own way. Their art is magnificent!

To be continued....